Hackett Didn't Pull Out
by lisemichelle
Summary: Admiral Hackett is Commander Shepard's father. Which means Captain Hannah Shepard, the Commander's mother, did the horizontal hump with Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett sometime in July of 2153. Thanks, Shadow Broker.


"Excuse my informality, sir, but you slept with my mother."

Admiral Hackett's hologram flickered on the vidcom as he pressed his face into his palm, "Look Commander, Hannah –your mother and I were young."

Shepard crossed her arms over her chest, "I called as soon as I received the results of the paternity test that I had one of my crewmates conduct," that crewmate was, of course, Liara –and actually, as soon as she got the results, Shepard downed half a bottle of levo-amino scotch, "And I am blown away at the fact no one had the decency to tell me you were my father," Hackett frowned and Shepard hastily added, "sir?"

Hackett coughed, probably out of discomfort, "I was only informed of this a year ago, give or take a few months."

"Sir, that doesn't justify anything."

"Well, your mother and I decided that, seeing as you are already a grown woman, you wouldn't necessarily need to know."

"Yes, because the famous Commander who united Turian and Krogan and Quarian and Geth definitely doesn't need to know who her father is at this point. She was fine up until now; what she doesn't know won't hurt her! Did you two just assume that maybe the reason I'm so dysfunctionally successful was because of my 'daddy issues', sir?"

Hackett was rendered speechless at her outburst.

"If it were anyone else –a stranger or something, I wouldn't have minded so much. But it was you, sir. I debrief you on my fun little endeavors what seems like every week and we reconsider our odds, which usually add up to 'We are all going to die in probably a year or so' –until very recently, at least."

Shepard huffed a dry laugh, though it sounded like a cough.

"And if I were to think really hard about it, sir, I believe I could see you as a father." She finished..

"And if it is any consolation, I am proud that you, Commander, are my biological daughter."

For a brief second, they shared a moment. No one spoke; they merely stood in each other's presence (if it could still be called that, despite the vidcom). In this small moment, they were almost father and daughter. He surged with fatherly pride and protectiveness, while she indulged in the feeling of having a father figure who already knew her, who stood by her when she accepted the Star of Terra, who comforted and upped her morale when Thessia was lost to the Reapers and the Prothean VI was lost to Cerberus. It was soothing to imagine Admiral Hackett as more than her superior officer throughout these trying times.

The moment moved on when Shepard began to giggle.

Shepard hiccupped, "You know, sir, we should have some family bonding time after the war."

Hackett raised an eyebrow.

"We could, uh, have a picnic on some Reaper debris and celebrate me and the Universe's success."

The admiral nearly laughed, probably at Shepard's certainty that she and the Crucible will succeed. They both needed this certainty, whether it be false or bravado or just self-centeredness. Their morale definitely needed some touching up due to the overwhelming odds of this war.

Not that Shepard noted it in their current circumstance.

"Does this mean I change my last name to Hackett?"

Shepard hiccupped again before nearly keeling over in laughter, "Wouldn't it be fun if I began calling myself Hackett instead of Shepard?"

"No." The admiral warned.

Shepard attempted to hold laughter back as she feigned a serious face, "Hackett out."

"Shepard." Shepard could have sworn she saw his eye twitch. Arguably, it could have been the vidcom flickering or glitching, but she highly doubted it.

"C'mon, let me off just this once, daddy."

"Shepard!" Hackett's eyes were wide, wondering what could have evoked such unprofessional behavior in the Commander who had in her possession the better odds in all suicide missions she'd ever been assigned.

Her entire face bloomed into a fierce red when heat flooded her cheeks as she realized the line she crossed in calling her superior officer "daddy". The line of command didn't have any protocol over calling your recently discovered father, the Fleet Admiral, "daddy' over vidcom, did it?

"I- I apologize, sir."

Shepard backtracked, trying to pinpoint where she decided she could let herself get so lax with the Fleet Admiral as to let such mortifying words slip from her lips. It was probably that damn levo-amino scotch. Her eyes began boring holes in the ground where she was staring.

"Acknowledged, Commander."

"Well, sir." Shepard attempted at a smile, "Duty calls."

"Unfortunately true, Shepard."


End file.
